Written By komlim puldel on Minggu, 14 September 2014 | 23.08

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks has lodged an appeal against his conviction in the US.Source: News Corp Australia

AUSTRALIAN David Hicks may have his terrorism conviction overturned after a superior court in the United States ruled the charges he pleaded guilty to were not war crimes.

Hicks, originally from Adelaide, served more than five years in the US prison camp Guantanamo Bay after being caught in Afghanistan at the height of the US-led war against the Taliban Islamic extremists after the September 11 terror attacks.

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Michael Mori who acted as David Hicks' military lawyer later moved to Melbourne.

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After converting to Islam, he travelled to Afghanistan and was arrested among Taliban fighters in late 2001 and taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

He was released after pleading guilty in 2006 to charges of providing "material support for terrorism'' and was sentenced by an American military court.

He spent seven months in an Australian jail as part of his plea bargain.

In November last year, he lodged an appeal against his conviction in the US after a civilian court ruled in another case that the same charges were not war crimes.

THE fastest point of a racetrack is the last place you want to become a passenger in your own racecar.

But that is exactly what faced Lee Holdsworth during Sunday's Sandown 500, a mechanical failure pitching him into a tyre barrier at over 260km/h.

The crash happened on the 131st lap of the 161 lap race. Holdsworth was cresting the rise in Sandown's long back straight, preparing to tap the brakes before turning into the high-speed Esses, where armco barriers lined by tyres sit lurking only metres away.

Lee Holdsworth.Source: News Corp Australia

Suddenly, his Mercedes snapped towards the inside of the track, skipping across the grassy infield and cutting back across the tarmac, before ploughing nose-first into the tyre barrier at almost undiminished speed.

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The impact demolished the front and passenger's side of the car, ripping a front wheel out, completing a lazy half-spin before coming to rest, the half-million dollar machine reduced to a steaming pile of junk.

Incredibly, Holdsworth was uninjured. He was immediately on the radio to reassure the team he was okay before hopping out of the mangled Mercedes and walking to the medical car under his own power, to the applause of the crowd.

After passing medical checks, Holdsworth explained his terror at suddenly becoming a passenger top speed.

Melbourne Storm fans are in mourning after a dismall display in the NRL's elimination finals, with the video referee certainly not easing the pain after ruling out this brilliant Storm try

This was the red light no rugby league purist wanted to see.Source: Supplied

THIS could have been the try of the finals. It could have got the Storm back into it. Then the video ref did what everyone hoped he wouldn't.

He let the super slo mo do its work and convinced himself Jesse Bromwich had knocked on into Josh Reynolds.

No matter which way you look at it — and to be fair to the men in the video box, there was evidence to suggest a tad of separation after the ball hit Bromwich's hands and then Reynolds' chest, which would constitute a knock on — it was hard not to feel duped as a fan.

Was the video referee right to deny Sisa Waqa?

With the Storm down 24-4, they attacked uninhibited, chasing a try that might just get them back into it.

The ball went right and was knocked down by a Bulldogs player — six again.

The ball went left and hit Reynolds and Bromwich almost simultaneously, before popping out behind Bromwich — another six again call.

This was called a knock on by the video ref as Josh Reynolds raced up to meet Jesse Bromwich.Source: Supplied

Flying winger Marika Koroibete picked up the ball and ran infield, then accelerated into a right foot step that split the Bulldogs' defensive line.

As he was falling to the deck, the Fijian got a super ball to countryman and opposite winger Sisa Waqa.

He said the problem was so bad, principals and teachers often spent Mondays intervening in a social media stoush that had erupted between students over the weekend.

"The physical safety of children in school grounds is traditionally the responsibility of schools, but what has happened is children are now communicating very extensively online and on social media, and those engagements within the school boundaries have gone well beyond school boundaries, and schools have been faced with a very big new responsibility," Mr Fletcher said.

"Clearly, there is only a finite amount of time in the day; the time spent responding to cyber-bullying is time principals and teachers are not able to spend on the core business of educating kids."

Matthew Keeley, director of the National Children's and Youth Law Centre, who conducted research for the Federal Government, said about 463,000 Australian children were victims of cyber-bullying last year, and three-quarters of those were aged between 10 and 15. Mr Keeley said the ­majority of Australian schools reported dealing with a cyber- bullying case last year, and on average, high schools grappled with 22 incidents of cyber-bullying last year alone, with one in three of those cases being so serious they were ­referred to police.

"We are hearing that teachers are spending inordinate amounts of time managing these issues," he said.

He said principals and teachers had to inform andinvolve parents in the issue, counsel and mediate students, issue warnings about inappropriate online behaviour, facilitate class discussions, discipline students and liaise with police.

Shocking ... Django Unchained actor Daniele Watts claims she was handcuffed by officers who thought she was a prostitute. Picture: Facebook/Daniele WattsSource: Supplied

A DJANGO Unchained actress claims she was "handcuffed and detained" by police officers who mistook her for a prostitute when she kissed her white husband in public.

Daniele Watts, an African-American actress who played slave CoCo in the award-winning film, posted the news on her Facebook page on September 2.

Watts claims she and husband Brian James Lucas were kissing on a Hollywood street when police were called and they were asked to show their ID cards.

"Today I was handcuffed and detained by 2 police officers from the Studio City Police Department after refusing to agree that I had done something wrong by showing affection, fully clothed, in a public place," the Weeds actress wrote.

Detained ... Daniele Watts said she was kissing her husband Brian James Lucas when police were called. Picture: Facebook/Cheffy BeLiveSource: Supplied

She also posted a photo of herself crying as she stood in the street beside a police officer.

Watts, who plays Martin Lawrence's daughter on the new show Partners, continued: "When the officer arrived, I was standing on the sidewalk by a tree. I was talking to my father on my cell phone.

"I knew that I had done nothing wrong, that I wasn't harming anyone, so I walked away. A few minutes later, I was still talking to my dad when 2 different police officers accosted me and forced me into handcuffs.

"As I was sitting in the back of the police car, I remembered the countless times my father came home frustrated or humiliated by the cops when he had done nothing wrong. I allowed myself to be honest about my anger, frustration, and rage as tears flowed from my eyes."

Distressed ... married couple Brian James Lucas and Daniele Watts wrote about their police encounter on their own Facebook pages. Picture: Facebook/Daniele WattsSource: Supplied

She continued: "The tears I cry for a country that calls itself 'the land of the free and the home of the brave' and yet detains people for claiming that very right."

Lucas wrote on his on Facebook that he thought the person who reported them to police had assumed his wife was a prostitute.

"From the questions that he asked me as D was already on her phone with her dad, I could tell that whoever called on us (including the officers), saw a tatted RAWKer white boy and a hot bootee shorted black girl and thought we were a H* (prostitute) & a TRICK (client)," he wrote.

Chicago Tribune reported a Los Angeles Police Department public information officer said there was no record of the incident as Watts was not arrested.

Django Unchained, a 2012 American western film directed and written by Quentin Tarantino, graphically depicts America's slave trade in the 1800s.